Reflections on What Has Happened

Three Asian Olympics in a row.  I know I have mentioned this before, but I am having trouble handling it.  The ideal Olympics would be on the east coast of the US, with me on the west coast.  I would wake at about 6 am, I could watch everything live until about 9:30, then go to bed.  Rio was good, but still ended a little late for me.  And that was before my days started at 4:00 am (or 5 am for now.)  As I was thinking about this today, I was considering my Guidelines for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.  Guideline #1 won't change (stay strong my friends, stay strong and focused.)  But #2 may be to go full vampire.  That way you are less likely to miss anything.

Today, I was finally able to take a breath, relax and just soak in a bunch of events.  So with that, I go straight to:

Reflections on What Has Happened (Focus for this will be on US sports and medals, but we will touch on other stuff as time permits) -

1.  Did you see the start of the Men's Triathlon a few days ago.  There was a big boat directly in front of half the field and the starter STARTED THE RACE.  I have been a starter for swimming races.  Admittedly, not with 100 or so swimmers, just 6-8 swimmers.  The last thing you do, before you start, is check to make sure there is nothing unusual in the water.  You know, like a boat, blocking half the field.  What. was. the. starter. looking. at?  He (or she, but seriously, we all know this was some dumb guy) clearly was not looking at the water.  I really can't say this enough.  Big Boat.  Blocking half the field.  With that said, I'm not sure the guy driving the boat (again, you know this was some dumb guy) made the right decision by trying to quickly back the boat away, while the swimmers were diving in, some of whom were right behind him.  In another not great decision, the guy who decided to dive under the boat probably could be making better life decisions.  I understand your dream of winning an Olympic medal, but you can't win one, much less enjoy it, if you are stuck under a boat.

2.  They should plan the Olympic surfing competition around a tropical storm every time.  Not a hurricane, because that would be dangerous, but grey skies, big waves and some crazy currents made for a very entertaining competition.  And gold for American Carissa Moore.

3.  The 3x3 Basketball rules seem to be "no blood, no foul."  I'm not sure what gets the ref to call a foul and I'm certain the players have to be baffled whenever one is called.  There is almost as much contact in 3x3 Basketball as there is in Water Polo, which is basically a Jaws re-enactment.  I did enjoy watching and the US Women win two close and very exciting games in the semis and finals to win Gold. Just as exciting was Latvia's win in the gold medal game against Russia.  (Or the Russian Olympic Committee.)

4.  Speaking of, what kind of punishment is Russia serving.  All their athletes are competing.  All their teams are competing.  They are currently fourth in gold medals and third in total medals.  Every time I watch a US team competing, they are either playing "the ROC" or they have a game against "the ROC" sometime in the next week.  Ryan Murphy lost to two "the ROC" swimmers in the 100 back.  The ROC was in the finals of both 3x3 Basketball Tournaments.  Their punishment seems to be having to compete under a stupid name and denying the world the joys of the greatest national anthem whenever one of these people win a gold medal.  This is telling a Notre Dame student that the entire school cheated so they must be punished.  They can compete, in anything.  They can win anything.  While competing, instead of calling them the Fighting Irish, they will be called "A sporting student who attends Notre Dame."  But THEY CAN'T WEAR GREEN!  Or ND on anything.  They will be called ASSWAND (A sporting student who attends Notre Dame.)

5.  I was watching archery earlier today and Middle said, "These people aren't as good as the South Koreans."  Duh!

6.  Do you have to be really, really old to compete for the US in Men's Beach Volleyball?  And go watch those forty-something guys play beach volleyball and explain to me why you are sitting on the couch eating Cheeze-Its.

7.  Alix Klineman is not replacing Kerri Walsh-Jennings and she is not trying to.  No one can replace those accomplishments and that butt smacking chemistry she had with Misty May Treanor.  However, through a couple matches, I am a fan.

8.  The US Men's Basketball team beat Iran and nobody cared.

9.  Subway's product is not good enough for them to be able to afford more than one celebrity endorser.

10.  Did I mention Water Polo?  Apparently you are allowed to try to drown your opponent and if the referee ate a bad burrito, you have to sit in the corner for 20 seconds.  If the referee ate a healthy lunch, no holds barred.

11.  The videos of families celebrating at home are great.  The interviews with families at home are a disaster.  After a beach volleyball match, they gave either Kelly Claes or Sarah Sponcil headphones from a Walkman made in 1986.  Then the connection went bad.  I have yet to see one of these special "talk to your family at home" surprise moments work at all.  The connection is always bad.  NBC makes literally like a billion dollars from this, you think they could afford a premium Zoom account.

12.  Speaking of videos from home, Alaskans are CRAZY for swimming.

What to Watch for:

1.  Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil in action again.  Will they upgrade the headphones?

2.  Olympic golf is starting.

3.  Rowing - Women's Coxless Pair.  Must. Not. Make. Joke.

4.  Track and Field starts Friday, which I think means tomorrow night here.

5.  In 3 years, the Olympics will be in Paris, which is only 6 hours ahead.  That I can deal with.

Predictions recap:

1.  UVA Girls Silver and Bronze in 200 IM.  Huh?  I got something right.

2.  Ledecky Silver in 200 Free.  Wrong - Yeah, that's back to normal.

3.  No medals in men's 200 Fly.  Right.  When I'm not a homer...

4.  Ledecky Gold in 1500 Free, but no World Record.  Right.  But I feel like I should be penalized for not predicting the Silver for Erica Sullivan (who is an amazing person.)

5.  Britain wins 4x200 Free Relay.  US Silver.  50/50.  That homer thing is really not working out for me. 

Predictions:

1.  Dressel gets gold in men's 100 Free (I'll never learn on the homer thing when it comes to swimming, and he was wrapped in bubble wrap, so we should be good.)

2.  No US Medals in Men's 800 Free and Men's 200 Breast.  (Maybe I can learn.)

3.  Flickinger Gold, Reagan Smith Bronze in Women's 200 Fly.  (Or maybe not.)

4.  Silver for US Women in 4x200 Free Relay.

5.  Djokovic wins tennis.  Just throwing that out there now.  I'm not watching tennis, so I have no idea when, but I'm going for the Golden Slam.

6.  US Women sweep Turkey in volleyball (I really don't learn.)